Osama Bin Laden’s Happiness at 9/11 Death Toll Recounted at Driver’s Trial

An FBI interrogator testified yesterday that the driver for Osama bin Laden overheard the al-Qaida leader saying he was happy with the death toll in the Sept. 11 attacks.

Interrogator Ali Soufan said the driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, said bin Laden had expected only 1,000 to 1,500 people to die, and was pleased that the death toll reached nearly 3,000, according to reports in the Washington Post and Reuters.

On cross-examination, Soufan said Hamdan usually heard details of the terrorist attacks after they occurred. "He never told me he had previous knowledge except ... when bin Laden tells him that there is an operation coming," Soufan said. He also testified that "nothing that I know of" linked Hamdan to any terrorist act, the Wall Street Journal reports (sub. req.).

Hamdan is the first Guantanamo detainee to go one trial before a military commission.